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Thursday, February 16, 2017

Macedonia Baptist Church and their supporters are not accepting the latest proposal from the Montgomery County Planning Department in a dispute over a desecrated African-American cemetery in the Westbard area of Bethesda. On Tuesday, the department said it would temporarily remove the Housing Opportunities Commission/Westwood Tower site - where the cemetery is located, according to land records and eyewitness accounts - from developer Equity One's sketch plan. The Planning Board would then review and vote on the plan, and the excluded site would be reviewed as a later amendment, after the cemetery investigation is complete.

That proposal is "insufficient," church representative Marsha Coleman-Adebayo said in an interview this afternoon. The church still wants the Equity One sketch plan removed from the Board's February 23 agenda, and postponed until the cemetery review is complete.

Equity One is "driving the process," Coleman-Adebayo said. Church leaders and members, whose ancestors are among those buried in the cemetery, are concerned about the Board's "rush to judgement," she said. She added that it would be inappropriate to give the developer approval to put up buildings all around the borders of the cemetery, should the land around it move through the sketch and site plan process before the HOC/Westwood Tower site is investigated.

"We would like to see a museum there," Coleman-Adebayo said of the cemetery site, currently hidden under a parking lot and the Westwood Tower high-rise.

Coleman-Adebayo also accused the Planning Department of attempting to place a "gag order" on the independent anthropologist and archaeologist the church wants to monitor the cemetery investigation. She said they would be unable to report anything they saw or learned to the church or the community. Speakers at last Sunday's protest explicitly said they wanted a process in which the church and other community stakeholders would have equal and immediate access to all of the findings by the developer and its cemetery investigation contractor.

The church has repeatedly tried to schedule a meeting with Planning Board Chair Casey Anderson, Coleman-Adebayo said, but "he has refused to meet with us." She said they believe he has met privately with Equity One. "He's made a distinction between" the church and Equity One, she added, noting that the latter is a multi-billion dollar corporation on the New York Stock Exchange.

Protesters from the church, and their supporters in the community, gathered on Georgia Avenue outside the Planning Department headquarters in Silver Spring at 2:00 PM today. After displaying signs and chanting for a few minutes, they were approached by a police officer who told them they needed to move to the courtyard at the back of the building. Coleman-Adebayo responded that the protesters were allowed to be on the public sidewalk, and declined to move. After further polite discussion, the officer left.

A short time later, protesters walked around the building to enter the rear door. They were seeking to deliver a petition, signed by hundreds asking the Board to postpone their February 23 vote on the sketch plan, to Board Chair Casey Anderson.

Three Park Police vehicles were parked near the building, and the group was approached by three Park Police officers. In all, the Planning Department called in six Park Police cruisers and one Montgomery County police officer against the protesters, the largest deployment I've seen against residents at the Planning headquarters. Usually there is one police officer present, and only when a public hearing is expected to be contentious.

Protesters continued into the building, with the officers following. At some point, church leaders were told they could not bring their banner into the Planning Board meeting room. Protesters lined up at the back of the room quietly. One carrying a small sign was approached by a Park Police officer. "That sign doesn't meet the requirements," he told her. "You'll have to go outside." The Planning Department headquarters is a public building, and its meetings are public. Protesters were silent indoors, and did not disrupt the business of the board at any time during today's protest.

Planning Board Chair Anderson suddenly recessed the meeting. As he walked from the dais toward the exit, Coleman-Adebayo attempted to hand him the petition. "I want to give you our petition," she said, extending the papers to Anderson. He refused to take it. "Did you talk to Equity One," Coleman-Adebayo asked. "No, I can't talk to anybody," Anderson replied.

Technically, Anderson is correct. In practice, however, he has been selective in avoiding ex parte communication since he was named chair of the board. According to an internal Planning Department email, Anderson scheduled a private meeting with Equity One on September 11, 2015. He did not report this ex parte communication at the start of the next Planning Board meeting as required by law. No action was taken against him by any oversight body.

1. He serves at the pleasure of the County Council. You can write to the Council and demand his replacement. You can mention the ex parte, and over-the-top response to protests, in your communication. However, a majority of the Council are political allies of Anderson.

2. Replace the Council in 2018, and vote for candidates who don't represent the current faction of the Democratic Party that today holds a majority on the Council. They will then have the opportunity to appoint not only a new Chair, but an entirely new board, as terms expire.

Public protests are proving to be the most effective means of putting a check on the Council and Planning Board.

This Council and Planning Board are not normal. Their disregard for citizen input and decency is without precedent for both bodies. There's questions whether the Board chair has broken the law. Not normal.

Guys, I fancy myself a real reporter. I know I'm living in a fantasy world. Let's pretend I report the news, instead of blogging a few times a week. Better yet - let's pretend that WaPo and Bethesda Beat aren't reporting these stories in more honest and transparent way.

7:30: Did you read about the Planning Department calling in muscle against the protesters in the Post or BB? Did you read about - and see photos and video of - Casey Anderson needing 3 armed police officers to speak to a small group of women and children, and disrespecting representatives of a black church at Thursday's meeting in the Post and BB? Did the Post and BB break the cemetery story years ago?

No, no and no.

I publish 7 days a week, you idiot. BB didn't even cover last Sunday's march, the biggest Bethesda community story of the year to date! Everyone reading this is laughing at you right now.

Out of one comment "This protest is a joke" Dyer has assumed this commenter knows who former Senator Byrd is, and supports his policies enough to make him his hero. He WAS the longest serving Senator. He was also racist. He also supported the Vietnam war.

But, why does the protester think it's a joke? We don't know!!! Maybe they don't like the signs. Maybe they don't think there's enough people involved. Maybe they think it's useless against the board. We don't know because they give no clue.

It could have been a discussion. But, Dyer just chose the easy way. Insult and move on.